Yesterday, an interview with actor and uncannily accurate Donald Trump impersonator Alec Baldwin was broadcast by PBS Newshour, in which Baldwin shared some of his thoughts on the still-unfolding scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein and the culture of sexual misconduct in Hollywood.
In the interview, Baldwin explained what was accepted as common knowledge in Hollywood before the scandal broke: that Weinstein had a reputation as a relentless bully who’d intrude on any production he was involved with – and that, it was rumoured, he had raped Rose McGowan.
He then said something that he really shouldn’t have: that maybe Rose McGowan did the wrong thing by taking a $100,000 settlement from Weinstein, and choosing not to prosecute the case.
You can watch the relevant segment here:
.@AlecBaldwin on a culture of complicity in Hollywood after allegations of sexual harassment and assault by fmr movie mogul #HarveyWeinstein pic.twitter.com/jHeWAhEuOg
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) November 3, 2017
While I’m sure Baldwin was attempting to further the conversation by asking whether women who chose to stay silent and take settlements are in fact holding the wave of social change back – it’s not exactly super helpful, is it?
Several female actors have taken a seriously dim view of Baldwin’s comments, including McGowan herself, who tweeted the following:
https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/926675960425889792
And Asia Argento, who is another of Weinstein’s accusers, who went in much harder:
https://twitter.com/AsiaArgento/status/926828908653285377
To which Baldwin responded, maturely:
If you paint every man w the same brush, you’re gonna run out of paint or men.@AsiaArgento
— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) November 4, 2017
Argento continued to voice her displeasure with Baldwin’s approach, saying he was mansplaining the whole thing.
https://twitter.com/AsiaArgento/status/926840622006366208
Argento’s partner, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, chimed in with this excellent insult that I will definitely be deploying at the earliest possible moment:
You are really too dumb to pour piss out of a boot
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) November 4, 2017
Aaaand the rest of it unfolded with the kind of tedious inevitability we’ve come to expect from Twitter, the worst platform to attempt to have any kind of civil discourse on.
.@ABFalecbaldwin responds pic.twitter.com/HXHitvMIbP
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) November 5, 2017
Then he blocked both Argento and Bourdain. Nice.
Baldwin has attracted attention after the interview for his friendships with Roman Polanski and James Toback, the latter of whom has been accused of sexual misconduct by hundreds of women.
Eventually, Baldwin announced he was quitting Twitter, and committing to doing “better in all things related to gender equality“. I guess we’ll see about that.
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926854522886115330
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926854850196975616
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926855125511163906
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926856382883745792
